Shorter took note of numerous out-of-town visitors who'd come to the area for shopping and to take in Stafford's Downtown Petoskey Holiday Parade during the weekend.

In terms of sales, Shorter said her store's performance for the holiday weekend was comparable to the same period last year.

"All in all, we're very happy," she said.

Mary Faculak, owner of EJ Shop Brand Name Sportswear in East Jordan and Mary's of Boyne women's clothing store in Boyne City, said her Thanksgiving-weekend sales and store traffic showed gains from 2009.

"I think we're off to a great start -- more optimism, and people are really in the holiday spirit," she said.

An e-mail which Faculak circulated to make note of "Small Business Saturday" -- a national campaign on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend to promote awareness of locally owned businesses -- seemed to help draw customers, she noted.

Faculak, who also is president of the East Jordan Area Chamber of Commerce, said other local businesses seemed to be having a strong holiday weekend as well.

"Our Friday was up (compared to the day following Thanksgiving in 2009)," he said. "Customer count was about the same, but our gross sales were up well."

A national ad circular from the Ace purchasing cooperative seemed to help the Charlevoix store during the weekend, Greyerbiehl said, noting that the mid-priced gift items it promoted proved to be popular with customers.

With customers already in line, Greyerbiehl said the store opened 15 minutes ahead of schedule at 5:45 a.m. Friday. Sales showed year-to-year gains for the hardware store on Saturday and Sunday as well.

Sunday's favorable weather likely contributed to the gains, Greyerbiehl said. With many people taking advantage of the weather to install outdoor holiday decorations, these items proved popular on Sunday along with electrical supplies.